New Pain

babysteps3446

Barefooters
Jul 19, 2010
16
0
0
Wanting to take another step forward in my adventures in barefoot running, decided I was ready to increase the distance of my (bf) runs. Having run several 4 milers comfortably, went out and ran 5.5 at a slightly faster pace and was rewarded with a new pain a day after the run. Not a sharp pain, but more of a dull ache on the top of my foot. I did experience some slight soreness/tightness in my calves which I somewhat expected, but I'm not sure what this top of the foot pain is all about. Any thoughts?

Tom
 
Sounds like a bit of TOFP to

Sounds like a bit of TOFP to me. A couple of different things regulary cause pain in my feet that sounds similar to yours. If I do some type of jumps in a workout, like box jumps or burpees or if I increase my speed in a run. Usually it goes away in a couple of days, but the SOB keeps coming back.

Good luck on kicking yours, chances are some rest will help.
 
 yup i say ice and rest it

yup i say ice and rest it till the pain is pretty much gone then go for it again. my advice when you up the distance is to not up the speed. when you're working on building on your running be it bare or shod you need to add one of those at a time. if you want more distance then add distance but leave the speed the same. if you want speed then add speed but do it at a distance that you know you are already comfortable with. adding both at the same time has the potential to create too many issues.
 
I know the 10% rule is pretty

I know the 10% rule is pretty conservative, but since barefoot running requires building bone density/strength and tendon & ligament strength (and sometimes involves pretty big skeletal changes), I think barefoot running calls for a conservative rule on building distance. 4 miles to 5.5 miles is a 37.5% increase, over a third more.
 
I posted this a couple of

I posted this a couple of days ago for someone else. Maybe it will help you too:


Here's an email I received from Ken Bob recently that is sure to help you:

There's actually a whole category on "Foot Pain"
http://therunningbarefoot.com/?cat=265
Some of my more recent posts on the top of foot pain (most related to the mis-use of minimalist footwear, to minimize feedback);
http://therunningbarefoot.com/?p=2684

http://therunningbarefoot.com/?p=1598
But for the post you're looking for, you gotta go back a couple years:
http://therunningbarefoot.com/?p=1186

I've revised the post since it's originally posting, as I discovered the exercises aren't needed. And some people (particularly ex-marines) we're trying to overdo, the gentle lifting of small weights, by increasing the weight, or trying to pull their entire body weight across their mattress when pressing "gently" against the edge of their mattress with the top of their foot.
Anyway, we can simply do the same exercise while running, that is, lift up the fore-foot, exercising the top of the foot, which is actually better, because you get about a thousand very gentle fore-foot lifts each mile you run, and avoid the excess strain of pushing off with the trailing foot (it's really difficult to push off while lifting the fore-foot), instead of trying to do the fore-foot lifts in a separate workout.
 
Thanks everone-good advice..

Thanks everone-good advice.. I should have known better to up both up the distance and the pace. For some reason, I was under the assumption that if the bottom of my feet felt fine, the rest of my feet were ready for the new stress. I can see now how people starting off in VFF's having never run bf at all, can really suffer damage...

Thanks again!
 
Babysteps: I know how you

Babysteps: I know how you feel. This year I've been trying to find out exactly how far I can push myself before my body says no. At the start of the season I assumed, since I'd been wearing shoes for the last six months, that my soles would be the part that would say no first but so far, after about 150 barefoot miles, I've had only one or two actual blisters. As far as other aches go though, I've had plenty and I still have. I keep telling myself it's just the body adjusting itself and I really hope I'm right.

As for the original question, I've got nothing to add.
 
I am keeping to 12-14 miles

I am keeping to 12-14 miles per week pretty steady with no increases and I have still had problems with picking up the pace and doing a little speedwork. Definitely running into another time where "go slow" has to be my mantra. No TOFP but bottom of the foot soreness and some tendon soreness (anterior tibial tendon).
 
  jschwab-I am right there

jschwab-I am right there with you at the 12-14 mpw. I guess having the patience of going slow could have additional benefits as well, like LHR training. I have been wanting to get a heart rate monitor so this is probably as good as time as ever to up grade my Garmin...